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	Everything is so blurry, so uncertain, colors barrage your mind with vibrancy previously unimagined. Something feels like it's slipping, in the back of your mind is a horrible memory, something worth letting go of definitely, but why do you feel like it's important? Trainquility is only a breath away, 'home' is only a breath away. 
	"No," a moment of clarity in your addled awareness. You can't let go this easily, this isn't home this is a promise voiced with sweet tones, how can you even think about trusting such a thing? 

	You cannot.

	Things are crashing around you, colors become dull and... normal? You have a moment to regret your decision but your gut tells you things are not nearly this simple. You feel feverish, like you slept too late wrapped in blankets in the middle of summer, and are soaked with the sweat. You hold on to yourself, but everything feels wrong. You remember a woman crying outside of a building and something terrible, a young man's pained expression.

	Astonishingly, you wake up in the tub, and the water has not overflowed onto the floor. In fact, it is no longer running at all. You spare a moment to catch your breath from the dream, and also realize that your clothing is soaked. It's a good thing you packed for the weekend, unlike Alex. 

	You climb out of the tub, at least you had the presence of mind to take your shoes off before getting in. Something is wrong, you stumble when getting to your feet, and wobble for a moment while you reorient yourself. Walking over to the sink, you grab onto it for dear life at the end of your journey. 

	What the hay? Your otherwise black hair is riddled with strands of white-washed pink, you grab a strand, or at least try to, it's so sparse as to make it difficult really, and then your attention lowers to your eyes. Your eyes are now crystal blue, they were brown this morning. You scratch your arm in irritation, before turning away with a stifled sigh. Then you stop to consider what happened at the convention.

	"This is all a dream, right? I didn't get the world's lamest dye job, I didn't watch somepony kill himself at an organization for fucking cartoon ponies. I did not let Alex drag me to such a stupid place in the first place..." You recite to yourself in a desperate bid to stomach recent events. You get undressed and grab a few towels, you and Alex have already removed the robes, you remember, so it is at least a dream that is keeping track.

	You step out of the bathroom and into the room proper. Alex is there, sitting on the bed watching the news, he looks worried for the first time in well... as long as you've known him, which is pretty long. He doesn't seem to notice you're in the room now, so you to decide to speak up.

	"Hey..." You pause, for a moment you swear your voice sounded different, more breathy?

	Alex turns with a start and walks to you fast enough to almost qualify as a run, he wraps you in his arms. The contact feels different, like you're 'inside' your body, not part of it, like your skin is a ziploc bag and you're just the contents. You shake your head as the awfully abstract thought fills your attention. Right now there was Alex to deal with.

	"Are you okay? They removed everyone from the convention, I'm pretty sure the show is over. It's all over the news, it sucks," His voice is more than a bit frantic with worry.

	"I..." You want to be your normal self. You fight to just say 'everything is fine' like you always do, but you cannot, it's just not there anymore, the will to lie and pretend everything is fine just doesn't exist. "I don't know if I am... to be honest. He was right in front of me..."

	"Oh jeez..." Alex pulls back a bit to take a look at you, and his eyes go wide. "Cherise, you're glowing... And did you have someone spray your hair or something?"

	You frown and look down at your skin, poking at it. You were always incredibly pale white, regardless of what you did, now your skin had a faint transluscence, as though something warmer was hidden beneath the layers. 

	"I didn't have it dyed, it was just like this?"

	"Oh come on, that's bullshit Cherry, maybe you forgot it in all the excitement," A bit of his mirthful behavior is creeping back into his voice and you just want to slug him in the shoulder, so you do.

	He clutches his arm in pain and take a step back. "Sorry... I'm sorry,"

	"So what are we doing now?" You ask with trepidation. 

	Alex shugs his shoulders and issues a noncommital sigh. "I dunno, leaving, I guess?"

	You look up at him, more than a little confused. "You guess? Why the sudden doubt? You're usually pretty sure about what you wanna do," You find it a little confusing that you are more worried about his shift in personality and feelings than getting the hay out of dodge; but hey, who cares? Certainly not you!

	“I did spend a lot of money on this room and stuff, and we were here for only one night, and we didn’t even really ‘do’ anything,” He raises an eyebrow, but the subtle hint just flies right over your head. Sex is the ‘last’ thing on your mind right now. 

	“You wanna go to a restaurant or something? Or, I have a better idea, why don’t we eat at the park?” Somehow enthusiasm keeps creeping into your tone, and it takes a great deal of effort to spare a thought for what happened just a few hours ago.

	“Sure, I... guess?” Alex looks positively stumped.

	“And the best thing is, after that tragedy nopony will be out there, so we’ll probably have the place all to ourselves!”

	“That’s a good thing? Wait... what did you say?”

	“I said, everypony is going to be rubbernecking and will be too busy to be at the park?”

	“Stop, wait. Listen to yourself speak for a moment,” Alex is getting frustrated with you, and it’s really starting to rattle you. Why would anypony care about how you... wait.

	Your eyes widen in panic “Oh my god, this is so embarassing...” Your face turns red and you can’t help but cover it with your hands.

	“This. Is. Too cute, Cherry is turning into a perfectly precious pony,” Alex’s smile is almost Cheshire tier.

	“Shut up, that’s not funny! I didn’t mean to say that! YOU KNOW WHAT I MEANT!”

 	You take a step back, and that’s when you lose your already precarious balance. If it was possible, your eyes go even wider as your hands flail out to catch your balance, Alex reaches out to grab your arm, and for a moment it seems like he has you, but your skin is damp and... something else is definitely contributing. You slip through his grip and slam into the ground, right on your flank. You cry out almost as the thought enters your head, “What is with these ponyisms?”

	“Jesus Cher, are you okay? What are you freaking out about it’s just a mistake,” It takes him awhile to notice you are not looking back up, your gaze is fixed your arm. After a moment of silence, he looks down to see what is all the fuss.


	The skin is torn, but not by much. It doesn’t look gruesome, in fact, somehow it looks inconsequential, and the hole is getting slowly wider as the skin around it turns to dust and just kinda floats away. poking through it is cream white fur with the slight touch of warmth, it’s otherworldly, like something out of fantasy, or you know... A cartoon for little girls.


	“Oh my god...” Alex mutters to himself. “Jesus christ Cher, what happen-” He doesn’t even get to finish his sentence before your teeth start rattling and you make a dash for that bathroom, tripping over yourself and covering most of the ground on all fours.

	“Cherise, wait!” You slam the door behind you before he can cover the ground, and lock it with fingers that are barely willing to function.

	“What the hay is happening to me?” Your hands fly up to your mouth and you emit a soft high pitched whine. 

	You pace for awhile trying to figure out what happened, and by awhile, it’s closer to a minute before your legs just arn’t working properly. Your now sedentary position gives you ample opportunities to scrutinize your changes, and they are advancing cumulatively. 

	The skin on you arm is puffed up, almost like a sausage. Sure, a lot if is probably because your arms are getting wider, sure, but there is also the ‘fur’ to consider. Bright, impossible warm fur is bursting through the skin that comes off you like... some kind of lame magical dust. You rub a tensing hand through it, you can feel it on both sides; the feeling is unsettling, but at the same time comforting?

	Hair is getting pinker, that’s something to be wary of? You’re clearly turning into a pony, that much is obvious to you now. “Why did it have to be pink?” you silently chant in your mind. Although honestly, it could have been worse, It could have been the ungodly pink of that party pony everyone seems to adore. 

	You crawl forward on your hands and knees and find a corner to weather out the storm, because taking stock near the mirror is just too much at this point. But that really isn’t making things better. Your skin feels hollow all over, and you just kind slip through it like sand on your way over. Curves and characteristics that once defined you go up in smoke during your journey, and are replaced by all new ones. Big surprise there, but at least you know you’re still a filly. “UGH, STILL A GIRL,” You reach your destination where it’s just a bit darker, and you shut your eyes tightly.

	It’s not really helping, because even though nothing hurts, closing your eyes doesn’t help much when your hands and feet are being molded like wet dough while the bones snap and pop. Your face isn’t resisting much more effectively, unfortunately. 

	The worst thing about this is that it actually feels kinda... good. It’s pretty hard to feel appropriately horrified when a sense of wellbeing and happiness are welling up inside and making every hair stand on edge, and you have a ‘lot’ of those now. The fact is, the only thing that is hurting right now is your tail... and you’re pretty sure ‘that’ is because you gave it a good wack not ten minutes ago. 

	Painful as it is, everything is so warm and fuzzy it’s hard to not feel a bit tired. This is all very overwhelming, but you’re sure it’ll be better in the morning. Why would you ever consider thinking otherwise? Just curl yourself into a ball, rest your head on your perfect little hooves, and take a blissful nap.